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Secrets of Page 1 Ranked Websites: What Beginners Need to Know About SEO
Most businesses know that a website alone isn’t going to win new clients. A website is simply another listing in the largest directory in the world: the Internet. For people who are already familiar with your company, a website is invaluable; it’s a quick and easy way to learn more about what you do well and how you can do it for them. But for the majority of Web browsers who enter keywords into a search engine, rather than an actual company name, it’s crucial that search engines can actually find you. Otherwise, website or not, you’ll remain invisible to them. That’s where SEO comes in.
So, what the heck is SEO?
And why do those three letters roll off the tongues of Internet marketers like gospel?
SEO—or Search Engine Optimization—is the process used to increase traffic on your website and improve its ranking on popular search engines. Here’s a little exercise: Try typing “flower delivery Austin Texas” in Google. You’ll first see a handful of florists that are advertising through Google. But right below the map are the top ten or so websites that Google has found to be most relevant to your search. That’s not to say, of course, that there aren’t other websites that are just as valuable—so how did these particular sites get the coveted first page position?
You got it: SEO.
But how is it done?
There are two main ways to optimize your website: on-site and off-site. On-site SEO involves working behind the scenes to make your site accessible, relevant, and accurate. That means, among other things, that you should have no broken links, no huge files (150K), and no slow servers. You also want to make sure that URLs, title tags, and metatags—which are used to describe your site and each page on it—are as concise and accurate as possible.
Meanwhile, off-site SEO requires careful and thorough keyword research. Many companies mistakenly pollute their sites with terms they think will get them ranked higher on search engines. But, because they’re essentially creating content for machines, the actual human beings who encounter the site are most often completely turned off. (We’ve all been to those sites whose content is dominated by terms like “cheap flowers,” “sell flowers,” “flower delivery,” and “flower order,” right? Not cool.) Researching and choosing the most relevant keywords—and using them wisely—is key in off-site SEO. And it’s the subject of the next post in our SEO series!
Have you tried to optimize your site? What have the results been?
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